Senior Living Communities Connect with Baby Boomers Through Digital
A senior living marketing agency can assist you in the battle of understanding your audience to enhance one of the largest assets of your marketing plan. The Baby Boomers created the counterculture — and our modern conception of youth culture along with it. One of the generation’s biggest bands, The Who, memorably sang the line “I hope I die before I get old.”Yet age comes for us all. Though many Baby Boomers may hate to admit it, they are squarely in their Golden Years — and many of them are now exploring senior living, often with the help of their Gen X children. So how do senior living facilities market to the demographic that invented youth culture? Certainly not the way they marketed to the parents of Boomers, a generation with vastly different lived experiences. Partnering with the right senior living marketing agency can help brands meet this challenge, and craft a marketing plan designed to resonate with the Woodstock generation. Why Baby Boomers view senior living through a different prism There are two reasons why senior living communities need to recalibrate their digital marketing efforts for Baby Boomers. First, this generation has a much different conception of retirement and aging. The notion of 40 years, a gold watch and a quiet life playing shuffleboard hold no attraction. Baby Boomers don’t believe they are “old” in the same way their parents’ generation was — even if the calendar says otherwise. The second reason: This self-conception is backed up by a profoundly important trend. Thanks to advances in medicine and a cultural shift toward health and wellness, people are not only living longer but staying youthful and vibrant even into their later years. In 1980, a 70-year-old was often prematurely aged by a lifetime of red meat, smoking, drinking, and minimal exercise. Today’s 70-year-old is often well-preserved by a healthy lifestyle supported by advances in modern medicine. How senior living communities can reach this demographic In order to effectively market senior living communities, it’s important to keep a few important ideas in mind: Despite the popular misconception, Baby Boomers are not anti-technology, afraid of technology or hopelessly inept when using technology. Baby Boomers invented the Internet and the World Wide Web; they outspend millennials almost two to one on online purchases. Baby Boomers spend 27 hours each week online. Roughly 82% of them have at least one social media account. In other words, they are a perfect audience for digital marketing and social media marketing. Baby Boomers seeking to make an informed decision about which senior community to choose will typically turn to social media reviews and testimonial videos to get their search process started. When designing a marketing campaign, senior living marketing agencies should help you stress the elements that appeal to Baby Boomers. Recreational facilities, onsite enrichment classes, yoga, culinary offerings, group excursions, property amenities — all of these things should play a central role in any digital campaign. Baby Boomers want vibrant, healthy, stimulating communities and marketing messages should reflect this. Baby Boomers and their Gen X children want to make the most informed decisions possible about senior living. One of the best ways to approach this is through social media storytelling. Have existing residents tell their own stories about living onsite and share these across all social channels. Make sure you have accessible health data: Rate of falls, hospital readmission rates, etc. Prospective clients will ask for it. Finding the right digital marketing agency In order to connect with Baby Boomers, you need to choose the right senior living marketing agency — one that has demonstrated expertise marketing within this niche. Our team has the digital tools — and the expertise — to help you appeal to Baby Boomers. Contact us today to learn what a creatively compelling digital marketing campaign can do for you.
How Pier 1 Increased Consumer Response Through Data Strategy
It’s time for a more data-driven approach, so let display advertising services take the wheel of your marketing strategy. Here’s an astonishing statistic: CMOs spend 20% of their budgets on creative, yet 71% of them don’t believe creative actually drives results. It’s a statistic that points to a much larger crisis of confidence within the marketing realm. So how are brands that are unwilling to accept this state of affairs responding? By taking a more numbers-based, scientific approach to marketing through display advertising services. How Pier 1 automated its marketing messaging The creative process in marketing is largely unchanged from its early history. People use a mélange of assumptions, guesswork and qualitative data to inform their creative approach. It’s art and science – a mix of intuition and information. Sometimes this approach works, but more often it results in work that’s too broad or somewhat misaligned with the audience. In recent years, however, new data tools have been developed that allow for the creative process to be guided by fact rather than supposition. Today’s machines can analyze robust data sets with extreme precision, uncovering actionable insights and learning as they go. Pier 1 offers an interesting example of this trend toward data-driven marketing. The company partnered with Persado to optimize the language used across customer marketing content. The technology involved in the campaign has the ability to alter the language seen in display ads in accordance with an individual consumer’s preferences. Using the Persado platform & display advertising services, Pier 1 was able to compare customer engagement and response levels for various sponsored ads, each with different photos, captions, hashtags and headlines. The impact of each ad and its constituent elements is measured in real time to see how well or how poorly they resonate with customers. In essence, the technology is a sophisticated form of A/B testing that includes a machine-learning component that composes new marketing messages guided by real-time feedback. All of it is based on linguistic science. The underlying technology analyzes millions of language variations to create an optimal message. The natural language processing algorithm used by Persado is designed to understand a brand’s specific voice and replicate it across all channels. Why a data-guided approach is smarter Consumers are bombarded with marketing messages. If they deign to give you their attention, you can be certain that concession will be almost instantly revoked if the message they are experiencing isn’t immediately compelling. Because of this, presentation is critical. Data-focused tools such as the algorithm deployed by Persado & proper display advertising services can play a critical role in helping brands quantify audience response to messages. These tools play an equally important role in helping brands optimize their messages by incorporating this feedback and making informed adjustments in real time. That doesn’t mean that marketing is now purely a science. As far as machine learning has come, it remains limited in many key respects. The optimal approach for most brands involves working with an agency that integrates data-based tools and human insight into one holistic marketing framework. Partnering with the right consumer insight agency Our display advertising team believes a data-forward marketing agency is your best bet for understanding and connecting with the right audiences. Don’t hesitate to contact us today to learn how we create modern campaigns that are rooted in human insight and executed with advanced digital tools.
How Can Small Banks Compete Against Large Banks? Supercharged SEO
Supercharge your SEO services and launch your community bank into the future with these key digital marketing strategies and concepts. The banking industry has been consolidating for 30 years, dropping from 14,000 banks in 1985 to fewer than 5,000 today. With smaller players being swallowed by industry heavyweights, it’s natural for community banks to wonder how well they can compete against national lenders. Fortunately, there’s one simple tactic that can help even the playing field: Well-executed SEO services grounded in a deep understanding of local buyers. How community banks can gain an SEO edge Community banks are, at their core, local businesses. While they might not be capitalized at the level of the big banks, they can instead compete on responsiveness and understanding of the local market. A local SEO strategy also pays dividends. Banks should give each of their local branches a dedicated web page rather than having each branch listed through a simple location finder. These pages should include information about each branch and its neighborhood and should be optimized for SEO. This means taking commonly searched phrases relating to banking in that area and incorporating them into the body and metadata of branch pages. The power of the public’s endorsement Adding customer reviews for each local branch to individual pages is also a smart tactic. Reviews play a critical role in establishing credibility and are a key cog in the conversion process. This also extends to external entities such as Yelp! and other directories. Establishing a presence on these outside sites does more than allowing you to bump your online review count. Sites such as Yelp! validate your bank’s address, phone number, and name with Google’s search algorithm, giving your site a rankings boost. Linking with high authority publishers is also key. Inbound links coming from high authority publishers is perhaps the most consistently effective tactic in the SEO playbook. Staying on top of local search terms It’s also critical to give extensive thought to the kind of questions prospective customers are searching for in your region — everything from “how to open a checking account” to “nearest bank to me.” These are the kind of questions for which community banks want to rank, so it’s important that they are addressed somewhere within your online presence. You can address them both on your sites and within the content you publish. Stressing your competitive advantages Community banks should play to their strengths when marketing. Larger banks tend to be viewed as faceless monoliths who treat their customers like a number on a spreadsheet. Community banks, on the other hand, are in a position to establish personal relationships by properly utilizing SEO services. This may not affect whether a customer qualifies for a loan, but it does impact how customers feel about their experience. Community banks should underline the closer, more responsive nature of their relationships with customers in their marketing messages. The takeaway Small banks can neutralize the advantages of larger competitors by highlighting the benefits of a more personal approach and pursuing a smart SEO strategy. If you’d like to hear more about the impact of high-level SEO services, reach out to our banking experts today.
How to Build Trust Through Community Bank Marketing
Leverage the unique opportunities of a small bank to drive effective community bank marketing strategies that will turn your small branch into big business. Many agencies and marketers like to think that finance is a big mystery—an animal all its own with completely different rules. In some ways it is, but in most ways, it isn’t. Effective branding gains attention and keeps it; just like it does in every other industry. Community bank marketing is very similar to small business marketing, it just calls for a more sophisticated twist.Here are 3 key concepts for building trust in small banks: 1. Get personal, to an extent Small banks have the unique opportunity to build strong interpersonal relationships. To not just become a brand or company name, but to become Sammy, the helpful man at the front desk, who can help you get what you need. He knows your name and asks about your son’s baseball games. Let empathy drive your services so that your consumers feel valued. Show them directly how your customer relations can brighten their day while your services exceed every expectation. Leveraging expertise and friendly service, you can turn your brand into a mentor for each and every customer. Find an agency that understands the delicate differentiators’ in voice and branding to craft the perfect balance for your community. Drive real results with community bank marketing that cares just the right amount. 2. Leverage digital effectively Digital is invaluable to community bank marketing because it’s a great way to establish one-on-one interaction and build strong relationships. Digital marketing for banks works a lot like digital marketing for anyone else but should be held to a higher standard. For example, a clothing company or salon should have Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts; while banks should be on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, but never Instagram. It’s just too casual. The right digital strategy in banking is all about finding your line of sophistication and building that ever-important trust. Use digital in conjunction with strong branding to build effective consumer relationships. Post community views and common local phrases to evoke nostalgia and build understanding. Using effective bank marketing strategies, your brand can become a community pillar. Represent your brand as a member of the community and follow through. Post photos and short videos of the front office team to build a connection before a customer even sets foot through your doors. Show the management team doing community service and attending local events, embody your brand through human interaction. Demonstrate a neighborly connection to develop a real personality. 3. Embrace ever-evolving technology Maneuverability is a great advantage that small banks have over large institutions. Every day enhanced technology is being developed in all aspects of every industry—including banking. Due to the security necessary throughout the banking process, it can take years to implement any one new process across an entire large bank. For a community bank, that same process can take just a few months. Incorporate cutting edge technologies into your services to provide convenience as well as modernity for your customers. Leverage your agility and technological know-how in your brand’s bank marketing ideas. This will draw in young consumers looking for a better way to the bank as well as the older markets that simply enjoy the advantages offered by new technologies. More than a novelty, technology can cut your company’s operational costs while allowing for more personal service. Incorporating a one-on-one, on-demand experience for consumers to interact with your brand without having to walk in. Utilize effective customer service in combination with technology to add value to your services. Remember, it’s nice to like your bankers but your bottom-line is built on trust, experience, and results. The takeaway Small banks have a lot more going for them than meets the eye. Make sure your brand’s target audience understands all that your company brings to the table through genuine connection built the right way, digital that effectively reaches consumers and furthers that connection, and unique offerings that only smaller institutions can accomplish. It can be a lot to manage yourself. Don’t hesitate to reach out to an advertising agency that understands the demands, opportunities, and limitations that your company faces. When you’re ready to market your bank on the next level, get in touch with our community bank marketing professionals.
How to Effectively Optimize Your Credit Union Marketing
Similar to that of banks and financing in general, the key to credit union marketing is to always be human and treat your consumers the same. Anyone looking to craft an effective credit union marketing plan first needs to understand the institutions themselves. So, let’s go over what sets credit unions apart from banks. Every person with an account at a credit union is, in part, an owner. This helps to ensure that each decision and investment is made in the best interest of the customers and not some third-party stakeholder. Leveraging the internal strengths of a credit union, your branding can empower consumers and employees alike. Ultimately turning them into brand advocates. Let’s take a look at some of the unique aspects that effective credit union marketing should emphasize. 1. People-focused Credit unions are inherently user-focused, as explained. This creates a huge opportunity for creating strong consumer relationships. Humanize your credit union from the inside out by bringing current users together. Plan appreciation events or giveaways to give consumers something to bond over and tell others about. Credit union marketing is about making every participant happy. Loyalty comes from the little things. 2. Lead the charge Everyone likes to be a part of something. As a credit union, you’re already part of a team, but you need to become the leader. Start the conversation on financing and credit score tips, saving money, or something newsworthy to inform and help out your target market as well as existing customers. Get active in the shared community, current events, and social movements to get connected to your audience in the genuine, personal way that only credit unions can. 3. Show reinvestment Credit unions are by the people, for the people. One person’s deposit becomes the next person’s loan, make that known. Your credit union marketing agency should make every part-owner understand the part they play in helping each other. This will build loyalty and a feeling of being part of something bigger. This mentality is a huge draw for Millennial, Gen Z, and Gen X audiences. It can also turn current members into strong brand advocates. With the more friendly and casual nature of a credit union, you already have a great foundation for building strong consumer relationships. The lack of stakeholders provides a unique opportunity for personalized interaction as well as incredibly low rates. Effective marketing for credit unions build your brand with a relatable personality. 4. Stand for something Unlike big banks, credit unions are just as the name suggests—a union. This allows you to take a stand, putting your voice proudly behind a local cause. Get the community activated around a mutual concern to show that you’re more than just talk. Every member is an owner, show them what that sort of power can look like, and the difference each person can make. Effective credit union marketing should address an issue that matters to your target market. This helps to humanize your brand and strengthen the team that makes up your business. 5. Get grass-roots Capitalize on the audience you have to get your brand making headlines. Big community events and pay-it-forward initiatives engage your audience in fun, effective ways that make a big splash. More than brand recognition and awareness, done right, these events make your target market wish they could be a part of your brand so that they could participate too. Getting the community energized, showcasing your brand, and driving headlines focused on initiatives can make a huge difference. 6. Give them what they want Convenience. While credit unions aren’t run like banks, baking technology can be incredibly effective. Let your consumers manage their accounts on mobile and offer free downloadable tools such as tip calculators, budgeting apps, and loan calculators to make each member feel taken care of. While credit union management is made up of customers, every part-owner should still feel like a customer. The takeaway When it comes to credit union marketing, it’s all about being human inside and out. Focus on showing off internal strengths through people-focused communications, establishing your brand as a community leader, and being transparent with the credit union business model. Then take full advantage of external opportunities by taking a social stand, engaging with the community on a personal level, and providing convenient banking technologies to really set your company apart. When you’re ready to step up your credit union marketing, reach out to our banking professionals.
3 Things You Should Know About Addressable TV Advertising
Redefining the world of traditional marketing, addressable TV advertising uses programmatic forms of TV allowing for household-based targeting. TV advertising isn’t as targeted as digital…or is it? According to Google Consumer Insights, addressable TV advertising allows brands to show their ads to specific households, rather than targeting audiences by the program being shown. Addressable television is a great way to reach specific households across television services no matter the show they’re watching. With Nielsen recently acquiring Sorensen Media, addressable TV is growing more and more powerful. Marketing Land says that this move will help Nielsen begin offering addressable TV along with in-depth measurement services. Well known for their detailed market research, Nielsen leads the pack when it comes to audience targeting and insights. There are a lot of advantages that come with addressable TV advertising, so we decided to share a few. 1. Save money Programmatic media buying is not a new concept by any means. But leveraging its power in combination with addressable tools means that a TV advertising agency can get their message to the target audience without spending your ad budget on anyone who happens to watch that specific show. This singular household targeting raises effectiveness while saving money on ad spend. An experienced media strategy agency can effectively leverage traditional channels to reach your consumers where and when they’ll be listening. That’s the crux of it all, reaching the right people, in the right place, at the right time. Which takes a lot more than an effective channel or method, it requires the right agency. 2. Not service-specific Addressable TV advertising isn’t the only way to reach specific consumers leveraging the draw of shows. There are many others, channels such as OTT advertising and mobile targeting, but many of those rely on one specific service provider. OTT allows advertisers to reach users on specific streaming services, while addressable TV is more akin to programmatic, traditional TV buying. Which simply means that OTT is more limited. For example, Hulu advertising is only for Hulu while Addressable TV reaches across any cable or satellite provider. Understanding your audience is the key to selecting any channel and budget. By using an effective audience segmentation consultant you can define who you are looking for and what drives them. 3. Opportunity in precision Addressable TV advertising brings a strategy of its own kind for reaching specific audiences. It’s that specialized opportunity for detailed targeting that makes this tool so unique. Once you understand who you are looking to reach, addressable TV is an efficient mix of modern and traditional that optimizes your reach over any program. Many channels claim that, but the optimization here is in reaching the right people versus reaching the most. With addressable TV, you are paying only for your targeted households. Highly specific targeting is no new concept to most expert agencies. As it is with all advertising, the right strategies can make or break your campaign. But with detailed targeting, it becomes even more important that the audience targeted is the correct one for your brand. Most other markets won’t be reached at all. The takeaway When all is said and done, addressable TV lends itself well to effective advertising. It’s cost-effective, has a broad reach, and allows the opportunity for incredibly detailed targeting. Leveraged correctly, it can turn a good campaign into unparalleled success. As a full-service agency, BIGEYE knows what it takes to make any channel effective for your brand, as well as which channels are worth spending your money on. We optimize each ad placement to reach your market effectively and reliably. When you’re ready to branch out, let’s chat!
Top Five Things to Consider When Advertising on Hulu
Choosing how to advertise on Hulu can be complex, which is why working with an OTT advertising agency to help with streaming service offers is key. An over-the-top advertising or OTT advertising tool allows brands to advertise on apps and streaming services. When looking at Hulu’s advertising technology, many opportunities become clear. From T-commerce which allows viewers to purchase directly from the ad to interactive interstitial that shows your commercial then enables viewers to explore more content within the ad itself. As an experienced OTT advertising agency, we decided to dive in and get to know Hulu ourselves. Some tips to keep in mind when deciding how to advertise on Hulu: 1. Not everything needs to be interactive Hulu has a lot of interactive options that are meant to get viewers clicking for more. Take a look at the full list. While these are valid and exciting offers, it’s important to consider how your chosen media can enhance your product rather than how trendy that media’s capabilities are. If you have a product that requires high-involvement purchasing like a car or a home, being able to dig into the details to see more and learn more makes a lot of sense. If your product calls for a shorter consumer journey, a classic ad, Hulu’s slate advertising, or custom integrated commercials could be a better approach. It’s important to note that we’re not saying that those interactive options aren’t valid. They can be entertaining and engaging. Allowing your consumers to choose which version of your ad they’ll watch can make them feel like they have some control. But if the audience doesn’t particularly care, then those extra seconds of ad selection can come off as more bothersome than empowering. It all comes down to knowing your brand and your message while deeply understanding what motivates your target market. 2. Leverage context targeting, get specific When it comes to streaming media, you can get incredibly detailed with your targeting. Determining the type of shows your consumers watch can seem pretty simple. But with so many options on how to advertise on Hulu, you need an in-depth understanding of what motivates your target market to predict what they’ll respond to. Will they care enough to find the controller and click for more? Are they watching on TV through a device? On the computer? On the phone? Some of Hulu’s advertising types work only through a browser. Some are only seen by those who are browsing around. So if your target market is full of planners who only open Hulu when they’ve got their show in mind, they won’t see it. You need to get specific about your targeting; it has to go deeper than a tendency to stream media. How does your audience stream? When? Where? On what? These details matter. How each of Hulu’s options applies to different contexts that can be found. If you pinpoint what motivates your consumers to listen, you can leverage the unique capabilities of Hulu advertising to drive real results. For example, if news about a specific show on Hulu coming back will attain consumer attention more effectively than your current campaign, then your OTT advertising agency should consider the custom integrated commercials option on Hulu. These take main actors or environments from popular shows and put your product into the mix to explore interesting applications of your features while driving consumer interest. Learn more about in-depth, strategic targeting. 3. High-tech ads have their place and time, so choose traditional options As an OTT advertising agency, anything and everything ‘cutting-edge’ can feel exciting and enticing, but it’s not about the amount of fun you have creating or placing the ads—it’s about their effectiveness. Hulu advertising doesn’t center around the video or even experiential advertising. It has to center on your consumers and what appeals to them while they’re streaming. Effectively promoting your products can be as simple and classic as product placement. With Hulu’s masthead product placement your market will come across your brand right next to Hulu’s recommended popular show while they browse for the next series to watch. A page brand placement is also a possible solution, but it will only be seen by those scrolling through streaming options from a browser. 4. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket Your campaign should vary, once you’ve correctly targeted your consumers you don’t want your message to get too repetitive or boring. Your OTT advertising agency should vary your ad buys between the multitude of options Hulu provides to keep your consumers engaged rather than tuning out. A good example would be a mix of ad selectors allowing your consumers to choose between 2 or 3 different video ads then supporting it with masthead product placement to retarget your market on another day. Raising interest in a way that isn’t monotonous or annoying. Another good mix could be a custom integrated commercial to get your consumers listening and seeing your features in an engaging way, then following it up with a T-commerce placement where they can see one of your campaign commercials then make a direct purchase. Learn about our strategic marketing. Whatever mix you end up going with, promoting your products in various innovative ways will keep your target market engaged with your brand, keep your product top-of-mind, and reliably drive brand recognition. No campaign should feature just one ad. Once your branding is targeted as specifically as Hulu allows, a single-note campaign will become repetitive and monotonous. Varying the media type, especially on the same platform, will keep your message fresh and engaging. 5. Approach with a strategy in mind There is a lot an experienced OTT advertising agency can do with advertising on Hulu. However, with the multitude of options and varied audiences, you need to approach Hulu advertising with clear goals and tactics in mind. Otherwise, your message can get buried in the noise of the platform itself. Get an expert team that will do the research, build the strategy,
3 Things to Unlearn About Video Game Marketing for Your Brand
Gaming is a 2.3 billion global person market, not tapping into this video game marketing arena is a huge loss of opportunity. There are a lot of things that people think they know about marketing to gamers. Forget all of it. The gaming world is a lot more like the mainstream world than most would think. There is a large amount of both men and women, as well as many different interests and categories. This can make for an incredibly diverse, yet niche audience. The complexity that comes with a melting pot like gaming is hard to fully grasp. So here are some common misconceptions you should unlearn. 1.Stereotypes There are many ideas out there about the gamer demographic that are flat out wrong. Let’s go through a few and get to the truth of it. There is one singular gamer demographic: As previously mentioned, there are currently 2.3 billion people that make up the video gaming marketing audience. There is no one profile that can encompass many people. It’s important to understand that there are even more game genres as there are book genres. Books have sci-fi, fantasy, historical fiction, murder mystery and more. Games have role-playing, first-person shooters, platformers, scrollers, racing, puzzles, etc; then added on top of that are stories of all shapes and sizes that justify each action and these two levels are combined in every possible way in gaming. Gamers are children: According to Statista most gamers are 18-35 years old. In fact, 23% of gamers are 50 years of age and older. This isn’t to say that children do not play video games. They do. Here is the 2018 Statista gamer distribution: Gamers are men: Almost half of the gamers in the US are women and the statistic seems to only be growing. Here is a gender distribution from Statista showing 2006-2018. Gamers are secluded introverts: According to Yahoo! Small Business, gamers are intricately interwoven and over 60% play together both in-person and digitally. With live chats, streamers, game commentators, the ever-growing world of esports, and plain old multiplayer games the idea of the loner gamer has passed its expiration date. Games are played on consoles: Consoles are gaming devices that either plug-into TVs or are their own handheld device. However, there is also PC gaming which is done online through PC computers, as well as mobile gaming which are just as popular—in fact, they’re more popular. Check out this gaming platform distribution for 2019 from Statista. Plus, most gamers play on any and every platform they can get their hands on. 2. Chameleon-ing When getting into video game marketing, you have to be genuine. While brands need to be genuine to achieve their goals in all areas, in gaming it works a little differently. Andy Fairclough and Rhian Mason of The Drum said it best, “Gamers can smell bullshit a mile off” don’t just try to tack on a gaming audience. Gamers are used to interactive, engaging media on a level that can’t even be matched by social users. You have to earn their attention genuinely—and here’s the catch—that’s genuine to who you are rather than who you think consumers will listen to. If there’s one thing Gamers value it’s being absolutely yourself, whoever that is, whether or not you think that’s who they want you to be. If you have an established brand you should stay true to it when marketing to gamers. They do their research; they’ll see right through pandering and they like to talk. The moment your voice is “debunked” by a gamer it will be all over every forum, your campaign will be dead in the water. Do not change who you are to appeal to gamers, use the same message—your message—in a different way on the right channel. How and where is integral as well. Unless your product is a game do not base your campaign on game marketing. Gamers don’t like being tricked or yanked on. They’ll hate this tactic just as much as personality falsities. 3. One-sided advertising Be in the conversation, not just near it. Gamers are all about interactive media, speaking at them rather than with them is a huge oversight. When entering the conversation, remember the advice above, be genuine. If you’re not sure your branding is the right fit, then influencers can make all the difference. Gamers love live streamers on YouTube and Twitch or the expert teams leading the esports charts. Find the type of gamers you are looking to reach out to then reach out to their influencers. If you want your video game marketing communications to be more direct there’s Reddit where you can find existing game threads and join them as well as gaming platforms with plenty of opportunities to interact with gamers such as mobile game apps and Steam for PC players. The takeaway If you’re looking to market your products or services to gamers, find advertising experts that understand video game marketing, that know the stereotypes are outdated, falsities will get you nowhere, and that all brand communications should be customized, grassroots, interacted, or a combination thereof. The gaming world is multi-faceted and takes a lot of research and expertise to excel in. Get a video game marketing agency that understands each market segment within the gaming industry to effectively promote your product or services. Our team knows the minutiae of the gaming world like the back of their hands. Reach out when you’re ready to plug-in.
5 Things Consumers Are Looking for in Banking Services
Want people to bank with you? Appeal to your audience by teaming up with a financial services marketing agency that understands the banking world. Finance is not boring. Complex maybe, but useful and all-encompassing. To get through to your consumers in this saturated market there’s a lot that banks can do to stand out. Some are merging and others offer incentives, but how much does a one-time deal or big banking matter to customers? As a financial services marketing agency, we’ve narrowed down the 5 things today’s consumers look for in a bank, so let’s dive in. 1. Security So, this one’s pretty obvious. Everyone wants their money to be safe. But as technology evolves, so does the definition of secure. It’s no longer enough to have a big impressive vault—you need big impressive coding, too. In a recent study by the Global Web Index, it was found that 34% of millennials and 36% of gen X believe that biometrics make transactions more secure. Coincidentally, you should be marketing to millennials for financial services as they are the generation that is most likely to switch banks within the next year. These details matter, and when it comes to the marketing of financial services, adding something simple like a fingerprint scanner can make all the difference. 2. Clarity It should come as no big shock to you that consumers today put a high premium on transparency. But that’s not all that today’s adults want. Your customers aren’t looking for you to just be open—they want you to be clear, understandable. Cut the jargon out of your communications while providing the educational tools for your customers to learn those terms anyway. Explain to them what they should do, then give them the tools to come to that same conclusion themselves. The more your financial marketing company can add value to your services with things like financial advice, online financial glossaries, and even courses and webinars, the more your consumers will value your services. Providing substantive tools and insightful advice in clear, easily digestible segments will set your bank apart. Teaching your consumers how to figure it out themselves next time does even more. Learning tools build trust, keeping your customers happy while enticing some new ones to come on in and see what all the fuss is about. 3. Technology You may think we’re just telling you that your consumers like new, shiny things, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Today’s consumers expect instant gratification and thrive on the power to make every change at their fingertips. Give your consumers intuitive apps, online tools, and easy-to-understand interfaces that deliver what they want—convenience. It may seem counterintuitive, but the less your consumers have to see you, the more they’ll like you. Your financial services marketing agency should know that everything in today’s world is instant, digital, and busy. Your customers don’t want to have to walk in or find an ATM to get to their funds—they want it available whenever and wherever they are. Your customers already work hard to earn their money, don’t make them work harder to use it. 4. Future planning Here’s where things get a bit deeper. A lot of millennials and gen X have never taken courses in budgeting or balancing a checkbook. Making your services easy to use only gets them halfway there. They want to budget for their future, to save up for personal goals and your app should help them get there. There are a handful of apps available that help consumers plan and take charge of their budget, but there is a unique opportunity in offering this service as their bank. You already have their trust and the expertise they are looking for. Building on that, by providing budgeting tools you add value to your services, building brand loyalty and increasing customer satisfaction. 5. Integration Here’s where it all comes together. Now that you’ve got all those tools, biometric locks, financial learning, cutting edge technology, and budgeting capabilities, your consumers will want to be able to use it all together. Paying for the things they want through your secure servers with their biometric approval right from the app. Receiving notifications on budget categories that are nearing their spending caps. Gaining virtual gold stars or actual awards for reaching goals set through earning and planning features within the app. By adding all these assets to your services, and letting them meld and cross-reference seamlessly you show your consumers what you can do for them. Combining your expertise with their daily lifestyle, you build relationships and loyalty that will pay for itself 10-fold. When you boil it down, today’s consumers don’t care how big your bank is or how many ATMs you’ve got globally. As a financial services marketing agency, you should let your consumers know what you can do for them conveniently, quickly, and reliably. By offering the most secure, cutting edge services along with easily understandable communications, learning tools, and seamless integration, you can make yourself the most useful bank without needing to be the biggest. Recently, SunTrust and BB&T announced their merger. While that strengthens their standing and allows them more resources to devote to service, it will also be hard to manage all that comes with being the sixth-largest US bank. Only time will tell how this move will play out. In the meantime, the changes suggested above will strengthen your brand standing and help your bank stand out. The takeaway As a financial services marketing agency, BIGEYE believes your services are what should shine, no matter your size. If you want to learn more about how our services will help build your consumer base without breaking the bank, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.
3 Reasons You Should Be Using Direct to Consumer Advertising
Today’s marketplace focuses on strong consumer relationships and with to DTC advertising you can craft genuine conversations that build loyalty. There’s a lot more to direct to consumer advertising than most realize, agencies and clients alike don’t always understand its scope. DTC, or D2C, stands for direct to consumer and refers to any communication that goes from a brand to the user or buyer specifically. A one-to-one communication with no middleman. Which sounds pretty simple but covers quite a bit, including direct mailers, social media, brand and voice apps, native advertising, and plenty more.Here are 3 of the top reasons you should be utilizing DTC: 1. Control the perceptions of your brand Brands are only as strong as their storytelling. When consumers don’t know, believe, or understand your narrative they make up their own. Leveraging the power of direct to consumer marketing, your brand can take full control of your narrative telling your consumers your story directly to get them engaged, listening, and interacting. The more you can inspire your target market to get involved with your brand, the more invested they’ll be in your services. It’s not really your company’s products or services that keep consumers coming back, it’s strong branding and spellbinding storytelling that turns customers into true brand advocates. While direct to consumer strategy is all about direct communication, it’s important to know what you want to say and how best to say it. There are tons of channels for DTC and choosing the ones that will draw in the correct audience is just as integral as the communication itself. Get in touch with strategy and content experts before deciding on any specific execution. As these words will come directly from your brand they will be seen as an honest representation of your company, so they need to reliably strike the right cord. 2. Cut costs while growing your consumer base The efficiency that comes with DTC strategies stems from the funds you keep by cutting down on middlemen. While cutting costs is a great goal, DTC would still be a waste of resources if it’s not effective. The impact of your D2C marketing, another term for direct to consumer advertising concepts, will be determined by the quality of the content and channel. For instance, if your brand is communicating through an app then the user experience needs to be just as strong as the content. The program is representing you and the consumer learn more from experience than from content. Build out your D2C marketing strategy with an advertising agency that understands the intricacies of app development and marketing to reach your goals without wasting time or resources. Streamlining your communications is only useful when those communications are what your consumers want to hear served in a way that will make them listen. 3. Instantly update your narrative as trends shift Having direct control over your band’s communications gives you unique speed when it’s time to make a change. Consumers and cultures are ever-changing so your content needs to be as well. When looking at native advertising DTC channels such as social media, you can shift the perceptions of your entire audience over just a few weeks utilizing crafted strategic posts. When your communications are controlled by you, shifts and swerves are well within reach; so is direct interaction. Through strategic interactions with your consumers, you can learn about them as much as they’ll learn about your brand. As your communicators begin to genuinely understand the target market, they’ll be able to tweak your approach better and connect more effectively. For all this to work you’ll need skilled communicators in charge of your DTC communications, to monitor and adjust messaging in real-time. The takeaway Direct to consumer advertising has a great deal to offer brands that effectively use it. Leveraging effective strategy, well-executed content, and a deep understanding of their audience, direct to consumer brands can drive incredible profits and build loyalty. Correctly managing all the variables at hand takes a lot of strategic skill and industry understanding. Being a full-service agency with a strategic center that deeply understands audiences and how to best position brands to appeal to them. When you’re ready to build effective consumer relationships through DTC marketing, Let’s connect.